Empty Nest

 

Our younger daughter, Shivani, our little "Chotu Laal", moved into her college dorm at Cornell on Aug 18th. The four of us drove on Sunday evening in two cars packed with her dorm stuff and her double bass to Ithaca. After an overnight stay at a dreadful motel, we drove to the campus in the morning for a few orientation activities. Shivani's move in slot was at 3 PM and the move in process at Cornell was relatively painless with people helping load our stuff into carts. Kala & Manu helped her setup her dorm room that she is sharing with 3 other girls. The next day was the new student convocation that involved a number of speakers talking to the new students. The highlight of that session was the ice cream social at the end with ice cream provided by Cornell's Dairy Bar. Here are a few pictures from the move in:

Ever since she was a little girl, Shivani has always struck everyone by her intelligence and thoughtfulness. She was a really happy child who used to get excited about the small things in life. My most precious memories of her involve her and Manu playing together in the bath tub when they were little kids. Over the years, Shivani has grown into an amazing and confident young lady. All her hard work and dedication paid off when she got into a number of leading colleges including, Cornell, Berkeley, UT-Austin and UMich. After much agonizing, she chose Cornell as it offered the program that she was looking for. I am so incredibly proud of my little baby and I am sure she will do amazing things in life. Here is a photo collage of Shivani's growth from a cute little baby to a beautiful young lady:

 Flight of Baby Bird

The past week Manushri, our little Chinsy Winsy Bandit Baby, left the nest and flew away to attend college. She is starting her Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the school of Language Science & Arts at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. UofM also happens to be one of my alma maters as I did my MBA from the Ross School of Business. It has a top ranked computer science program and Manu was really excited when she was selected for this prestigious program.

Manu was born at 11:11PM on December 13, 2005. Even as a baby she was, what my wife Kala calls, a "polandari", which basically means a chatter-box. She was a really cute baby, always active and very talkative. Her favorite activity as a less than 2 year child used to be to help her grandma clear the dishes from the dishwasher, which basically meant taking the dishes out of the dishwasher and throwing them on the floor 😀. Her grandma used to be in constant fear of Manu coming to "help" her with the dishes and would hurriedly close the dishwasher as soon as Manu came near.

The first time we put her in a daycare was challenging, for both Kala and Manu. They both spent the day crying for each other. It took some time and lot of help from my father but Manu did eventually adjust to the day care and preschool. She would learn nursery rhymes from day care and sing them at home in her baby voice. Kala and I could only make out a few words and were puzzled what she is trying to say. Eventually it dawned on us that she is singing nursery rhymes, with her favorite one being the one about a bumble bee.

When she was 2 years old, Manu became a big sister (Akka in Tamil) to Shivani. Manu was a really caring akka and Shivani was fascinated by everything that her older sister did. Soon they became really tight and inseparable playing games together in and outside the house. Their favorite game used to be "pretend", where they pretend that they are doctors, vets etc. They even had a name for a medical practice that they would open when they were older - "Hands & Paws" - where they would treat children and animals. When their mom asked them to hire her as a receptionist, they refused 😀

The move from Boston area to Monroe, CT was a difficult one for the kids but Manu soon found good fiends in Duha & Maggie. Manu thrived in the Monroe school system, graduated near the top of her class and participated in robotics and orchestra among other activities. The collages below show Manu's transition from a cute little baby to a young lady during the course of the past 17 years.

She scored a 1560 composite on her SAT and got into several leading colleges including Northeastern, WPI, UMass Amherst, Maryland, Rochester, Ohio State etc. but her heart was set on going to Michigan . She fell in love with the campus and the school during the orientation visits and wanted to attend UofM even though it is over 700 miles away.

While it was a difficult decision for Kala and me, we supported her decision and that is how it came to be that last Saturday we made the nearly 12 hour drive to Ann Arbor, car absolutely jam packed with stuff for her dorm. We settled her into her dorm room on Thursday and Shivani helped setup the dorm room. The picture below shows Manu is her freshman her dorm room :

On Saturday morning, with tears in our eyes and our hearts breaking, we said goodbye to Manu and made the 12+ hour drive back to Monroe. As a father, it is a bittersweet moment for me. I am simultaneously proud of my daughter and what she has accomplished and at the same time heart broken that my baby is on her own 700 miles away. The rational part of me realizes that eventually all children have to venture off on their own and find their own destinies. But the emotional part of me is still coming to terms with it. Every little thing in the house, from the school parking permit on the car windshield to her stuffed toys remind me of her absence. Children leaving the nest is a truly heartbreaking experience for parents. Now I know what my father would have gone through when I left to come to America and be 10,000 miles away from him.

 India after 8 Years

Placeholder for 2023 India trip

 Ten Years

Yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of my father leaving this world. I miss you each and every day Appa. Thank you for everything that you did for us. Love you

 RIP Frosty

Another sad news. Frosty, our pet leopard gecko, passed away last night. We had got him around 4 years ago. He was a real gentle guy who used to love chilling out on our hands. He was always active in his tank trying his best to scale the glass wall and climb out as seen in the video below.

He had been unwell for the last few months and we had been hand feeding him per the vet's suggestion. He stopped eating a few days ago and passed away last night. RIP Frosty. You will be missed

 RIP Emmy

Our second parakeet, Emerald aka Emmy, passed away yesterday. She had been sick for a few weeks and we took her to the vet a few times to see if they can cure her. The diagnosis was that she had a stroke (didn't realize birds can have strokes) that left her lower half paralyzed. As a result she had been unable to walk for a few weeks. We made her comfortable as comfortable as possible in a smaller sick bird cage. She passed away yesterday leaving us incredibly sad.

Emmy was the quieter of our two parakeets but she did manage to escape from her cage couple of times and fly around the house. Took us a while to figure out how to get her back in her cage. You may not have received the opportunity to fly when you were alive, I pray for your soul to take flight to heaven and spend eternity with your BFF Marie. You will be missed and your chirps will be fondly remembered. Rest in Peace dearest Emmy.

 Eight Years

Today is eight years since my father passed away. Not a day passes by when I don't think of him and miss him. Love you Appa!